PEOPLE

Paediatric Gastroenterologist

Dr. Kevin C. Bax, MD joined the Department of Paediatrics at the Children’s Hospital London Health Sciences in February 2009. He was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He moved to Michigan to complete his undergraduate training at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. He then graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine. He served as pediatric resident, as well as a pediatric gastroenterology fellow at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.

Dr. Dhandapani Ashok, MBBS, MD, FRCPCH (UK) joined the Department of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital, London Health Sciences in October 2012. Dr. Ashok graduated from Madras University and completed postgraduate pediatric training in Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai, India. Since 1999, he trained in United Kingdom and completed pediatric gastroenterology / hepatology fellowship in Birmingham Children’s Hosptial: centre for intestinal rehabilitation, liver and small bowel transplantation in 2008. He worked at a consultant pediatric gastroenterologist in UK for 2 years before moving to Canada.

Dr. Andréanne Zizzo obtained her Bachelor of Health Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She graduated medicine from the University of Ottawa and pediatrics from Western University in London, Ontario. Her training in pediatric gastroenterology at the Hospital for Sick Children was combined with a Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto.

Dr. John Howard is a gastroenterologist (a big word for a “gut-doctor”) who specializes in gut problems in children.He tells his patients he went to grade 25! He trained as an “adult” gastroenterologist but for the last 20 years, has seen children more and more in his practice.He also found that if you can figure out a way to explain a problem to a five year old, you can explain it to an adult! Five years ago, he decided to switch from adults to kids and he loves it. He has spent much of his time developing and publishing books for the patients in his practice and finally decided to share them with everyone on this website.

Paediatric IBD Nurse Practitioner

Melanie Watson, BScN, MScN, RN(EC)

• .Masters prepared Registered Nurse with additional expertise in pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
• .Provides health services to pediatric IBD patients in collaboration with the Pediatric Gastroenterologists
• .Coordinates timely access to health care via telephone triage and rapid access to clinic appointments when necessary
• .Education and ongoing support for disease management
• .Medication information
• .Disease prevention
• .Troubleshooting symptoms
• .Disease monitoring via laboratory services and other tests
• .Navigating the health care system
• .Link to community and hospital resources

Paediatric GI Nurse Case Manager

Patti Geurtjens, RN., BScN., ENC(C)

• .The Nurse Case Manager is a University prepared Registered Nurse who has additional expertise is in Pediatric Gastroenterology
• .Actively participates in your child’s Gastroenterology team by acting as a liaison between you and your child’s Gastroenterology team members
• .Coordinates your child’s Endoscopy, testing and consultations to ensure they are carried out in the best possible time frame
• .Provides information to you and your child about Endoscopy preparation along with what to expect during your child’s scope day
• .Identifies the health needs of your child and provides information and education regarding GI issues such as constipation and cecostomy tube care
• .Provides guidance to families navigating the healthcare system
• .Partners with community agencies to assist in addressing your child’s relevant needs in the community

Paediatric Dietitian

• Each Paediatric Dietitian is registered dietitian (RD) with a university degree in clinical nutrition and a member of the College of Dietitians of Ontario and the Dietitians of Canada
• The RD provides nutrition support for acute and chronic illness, and the ongoing nutrition education to caregivers and patients for normal growth and development
• The dietitian can assess, treat and prevent disease/physical conditions using food, vitamin/mineral supplements, and/or nutrition support
• The RD provides dietary advice and information to patients and families with conditions, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, Celiac’s disease and constipation, and also address the nutrition issues of our transplant recipients.

Dr. Erica Gold, Psychologist
Paediatric psychologists specialize in working with children and adolescents and their families who are dealing with a medical condition that affects the young person’s psychological adjustment or with psychological adjustment issues that affect the young person’s health
The psychologist is available by referral from the team to provide treatment to assist children, adolescents and their families with:

• medically-related stress and anxiety
• adjustment to medical conditions and treatment
• management of physical symptoms such as pain and nausea
• behaviour problems at home or in hospital related to the child’s medical condition or treatment

Darlene Kristiansen, Clerk
Contact: 519-685-8177 opt. 1

• The Clerk will make any clinic appointments that you require. Make sure you book your next appointment each time before you leave the PMDU (Paediatric Medical Day Unit).
• If you need to reschedule a clinic appointment, call the Clerk.

Additional Supports:

Social Worker

Crystal Langdon

• The social worker is available to provide emotional support and counselling to transplant patients and their families
• You may find it helpful to discuss personal, financial and family concerns that arise. The social worker can give you information about community resources to help with living expenses and the cost of medications

Child Life Specialist

• Child Life Specialists strive to support the emotional, developmental and cultural needs of our patients and families.
• Child life promotes effective coping through play, self-expressive activities, age-appropriate medical preparation, and procedural support.

Resident, Fellow, MD

• We are a teaching hospital, so a resident or fellow are often part of our team and may participate in your care.
• They will be taking the patient’s medical history and will be doing an initial assessment.